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Iraqi Coalition Urges Constitution Committee to affirm International Law and ICC

05 Aug 2005

Please find below an unofficial translation of the letter sent by the
Iraqi Human Rights and Democracy Organization and the Iraqi Coalition
for the ICC to the 71-member Iraqi Constitution Committe, which is
due to present a draft of the constitution on August 15, 2005. The
letter urges them to enshrine the principles of international law and
the rights guaranteed in them in the new Iraqi constitution.
The letter is signed by 90 members of Iraqi civil society, most of
them lawyers. The Iraqi Coalition for the ICC was created on May 28,
2005 in Amman, Jordan at an FIDH-organized roundtable on the Iraqi
Special Tribunal, Victim's Rights and Access to Justice.

I have the Arabic original with me and will be happy to email it out
as an attachment to anyone who is interested.

Thank you,
Best Wishes,

Anjali Kamat.
Outreach Liaison for the Middle East, North Africa and Europe
CICC New York Secretariat

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To the President and members of the national Iraqi Constitution
Committee:

Fundamental human rights and guarantees of their applicability are
extremely significant and urgently necessary in the new Iraqi
constitution, because they do not only guarantee national rights
alone, but also bear an international quality. They embody the
elements of international human rights law from the global
declarations, the special international covenants on civil and
political rights, the optional protocols, the international
conventions on women, children, the disabled, and finally, the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court.

International law represents the highest values of honor, human
justice, and safeguarding the rights of humanity. Its body of laws
cannot be fragmented and they do not bend to nationalist interests,
but represent a crucial signpost in the history of human rights –
testifying to the arrival of the human race to an important level of
consciousness regarding humanitarian values and the principle of
equal rights.

Therefore, there is nothing else for the Constitutional Committee to
do but approve these rights, as defined in international law, and
clearly stipulate them in the first chapter of the constitution,
where fundamental rights are defined. Any efforts to fragment
international humanitarian law by accepting certain international
agreements and rejecting others is a violation of international law
and amounts to a restriction on the fundamental rights of Iraqis.
Moreover, much like the attitude of the former Iraqi regime, it is an
attempt to escape from the reach of international law.

We the undersigned from the Human Rights and Democracy Organization
in Iraq and the Iraqi Coalition for the International Criminal Court
request you to insist that the new Iraqi Constitution clearly affirms
international law in its totality, primarily the Rome Statute of the
ICC, as well all the international agreements and conventions and
declarations.

1. Hassan Shabaan, Lawyer and Head of the Committee
2. Ms. Lilian Dara Tawfiq
3. Hamid al-Aboudi, Lawyer
4. Sankol Jabouk, Former Member of the Governing Council
5. Jassem Ismail Hussain, Lawyer
6. Mohamad Shaker Al-Shakarji, Lawyer
7. Abdel-Reda `Assal, Lawyer
8. Ms. Bana Ghassan Jamil
9. Dr. Nahed Abd el Zahra
10. Dr. Noha `Oaid Mashali
11. Mohamad Khalil Kamel El-Din, Lawyer
12. Ms. Raja' El-`Azawi, Lawyer
13. Rawa' Abd El-Nafa'
14. Khaled El-Shaybani, Lawyer
15. Dr. Omar Tareq, University Professor
16. Hana' El-Shaikhaly, Journalist
17. Ms. Nisreen `Abdel-`Aziz Razouqi, University Student
18. Khaled Naji, Lawyer
19. Abdul `Aziz `Aboud Radi, Lawyer
20. Ms. Leila Yusef Othman, Pensioner
21. Dr. `Abdel-`Ilah Shoman
22. Ms. Sha'la Ali Yassin, Fine Arts Graduate
23. Loa' Daya' El-`Asam, Lawyer
24. Mohammad Majid Sa'di, Lawyer
25. Ahmed Talal Samrani, Lawyer
26. Yashin Sa'di, Lawyer
27. Ms. Salma Talal `Abd el Hamid, Lawyer
28. Ms. Ghida `Awad Sihab, Fine Arts Graduate
29. Ali Abd el Hussain Al Yassiri, Lawyer
30. Ghassan Duri, Lawyer
31. Mahid Hussain Al Ghanem, Lawyer
32. Hassan Falah, Lawyer
33. Hayder Abd Ar-Razzaq Mohammed, University Student, (Najaf)
34. Naeem Shaker, Lawyer
35. Ali Shamsi, Lawyer, (Najaf)
36. Mohammad Ismail Jawad al – Mihanna, Lawyer
37. Shahad Abdulila Shahd, Lawyer
38. Ms. Inas Salah Samida'I, Lawyer
39. Ms. Nur Layth Al Bayani, University Student
40. Ms. May Nuri Mahya, Teacher
41. Ms. Zubeida Abd Ar-Razzaq Mohammad, School Principle
42. Abbas Fadhel Rashid, School Principle
43. Aseel Yassin Sa'adi, University Student
44. Bahjat Habbar Farhan, Lawyer
45. Ms. Saba Al-Haythi, Lawyer
46. Abdellah Juloub, Lawyer
47. Ms. Sahar Ridha, University Student
48. Ms. Maysam Omran Hamdain, Journalist
49. Abu Dar Yusef Al-Janabi, Engineer
50. Yasser Hassan Mohammad, Engineer
51. Hussein Mohammed Abdel Latif, University Student
52. Ms. Nidal El-Mawosawi, Journalist
53. Hassanein `Aasem Kamuna, Lawyer
54. Karim Ismail Ridha, Engineer
55. Hussein Al-Jowhari, BA
56. Ms. Maha Hussain, Accountant
57. Fouad Hammoud Falih, Retired Officer
58. Eyad Tareq Abdel Wahab, Journalist
59. Ali Mahdi Majid As-Safaar
60. Ismail Shaker Ar-Rabiya'i, Lawyer
61. Hussein Ali Saleh, Lawyer, (Karbala)
62. Ms. Niran Mahmoud Dawood
63. Ms. Rana Zahem Al-Aani, Lawyer
64. Ms. Lamia Ibrahim Mahdi
65. Ms. Amal Kadhem Suwadi, Lawyer
66. Ms. Sara Hamed Ash-Shibani, Journalist
67. Ms. Hala Hadal Al-Khaza'I, Lawyer
68. Diya' Ibrahim Shamri, Lawyer
69. Kaiser Salman Dawoud, Teacher
70. Jalal Abdalila Hussain, Teacher
71. Qais Hamed Dalimi, Accountant
72. Hussain Salman Daood, Trader
73. Ms. Areej Al-Kanani, Lawyer
74. Tamer Al-Obeidy, Lawyer
75. Radna Azur Bizil, Lawyer
76. Ghassan Ayoub, Lawyer
77. Nasser Mahdi Shalal (Al-Aziziya)
78. Ms. Fauziya Hammoud Falih, University Student
79. Saad Hussein Al-Haiyawi, Lawyer
80. Raed Saeed Ahmed, Lawyer
81. Sataar As-Saa'di, Lawyer (Maisan)
82. Zamel Al Aameri, Lawyer, (Al-Soweira)
83. Ms. Ilham Hussein, Lawyer, (Basra)
84. Safa `Adi Abdalah, Journalist
85. Shafiq Abdallah Mahmoud, Journalist
86. Raed Shadu Ahmad, University Student (Basra)
87. Saif Hassan Mohammad, University Student
88. Hamed Mohammad Qasem Shibani, University Student
89. Ahmed Ahmad Kadhem Al-`Atar, Lawyer
90. Abdel-Wahad El-Shamri, Lawyer